Tell Me a Secret
by country music freak
Summary: Matt Casey came from an abused background. On a routine call to a burning apartment building, he runs into a girl in the same situation he was in growing up. Can he find a way to save this girl, or is she going to be lost forever? I don't own Chicago Fire or any characters you recognize, no matter how much I want to. It belongs to NBC.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Matt stared at his dad, wondering what he would do to him next. Ever since he lost his job, his dad had been drinking heavily. Matt tried to protect his mom and sister, but he couldn't be everywhere at once. He tried to bring home enough money to pay for the immediate needs of the family, but there weren't a lot of jobs a ten year old could do that would be worth enough money. Not that his family saw any of it in a good way. All of Matt's money went to his father and his drinking.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little boy trying to be all grown up?" Matt hated the sound of his father's voice. The way it was oily and made him want to shudder. It seemed to even _sound_ like he had been drinking, which, of course, he had been.

"N-no, Daddy. I was just coming back from my paper route. Jimmy has one and said that he loved it. I wanted to see if it was as fun as he said it was," Matt lied through his teeth. However, lucky for him, his dad was drunk as a skunk and would probably believe him if he said he was purple with yellow polka dots.

"Well, boy? Is it? As fun as he said?" Matt made no move to answer and instead hung his head. Matt knew the punishment for "back-talking" as his father put it, or "holding a conversation" as the rest of the human population put it. When Matt didn't answer, his dad threw the bottle of beer he was holding and managed to hit Matt in the face. The glass cut his skin and the alcohol burned in his cuts. He could only hope that it wouldn't scar too much.

Matt's dad then stalked closer to Matt, invading his space. Matt knew what this meant. He was about to get the beating of his young life.

Matt didn't even have time to duck out of the way of his father's fist before it struck him in the temple. Pain flared and Matt fell to the floor.

"You think you're so much better than me? Huh? Is that what you think, you worthless piece of shit? I'll teach you to think you are better than your elders!" Each sentence was punctuated with the pain of another fist connecting with his head or a foot to the stomach. Matt was, for the first time in his life, scared that his father would go too far and he wouldn't be able to heal from this. All Matt wanted to do when he grew up was be a firefighter. But at the rate things were going, he wouldn't even be able to see his next birthday.

**25 years later...**

"Bitch, get your lazy ass over here! NOW!" Elisabeth shuddered as she heard her father calling for her. _Why can't I just have a normal life?_ She thought as she trudged out of her bedroom, her sanctuary, towards the living room where her father was waiting impatiently for her.

"Yes, Father? How can I help you?" Elisabeth tried her hardest to keep the sarcasm out of her voice and prayed that her father didn't hear it. Life was already bad enough without the extra beatings that "insolence" would bring. She still hadn't recovered from the last one, she could still feel his hands all over her and could feel his weight pressing down on her, breaking bones and tearing her soul to pieces.

"What have I told you about having dinner ready for me when I came home? Hm? I work my ass off every day in order to put food in our pantry and you repay me by not cooking it? Your mother would be ashamed," he said. That got Elisabeth's blood boiling. How _dare_ he talk about her mother like that? The one person in the world who listened to her. The one **he **killed. Because of him, Elisabeth was stuck here for another twelve years. She couldn't wait to leave this Hell. The neighbors all knew what was going on and tried to help, only they couldn't do much.

Whenever Elisabeth's father tried to sell her to customers, the people around them would pay to have Elisabeth for a night, or a weekend. That was the only time she could reliably get food. She could relax and not worry about getting beaten for sitting. Not that she was ever completely comfortable, of course. Elisabeth still wouldn't let anyone near her, but it was still nice to be able to sit down on a couch.

*****Time Skip*****

Elisabeth was cooking dinner for her father when he unexpectedly came through the front door, staggering around. She could tell that he had hit the hard stuff and wasn't about to stop just because he was home. That simply meant that he expected Elisabeth to wait on his every need, before he said it. The nights he got this hammered were the nights that were usually very painful for Elisabeth.

"Come give your father some sugar, sugar," he slurred. Knowing the consequences for disobeying, Elisabeth slowly walked over to where her father slouched, not even making it to the couch. Her father grabbed her wrists and yanked. Elisabeth was pulled off balance and fell right into her father's lap. She struggled to get away, but even drunk, he was more than a match for a six year old girl. She gasped as he grabbed her butt and wouldn't let go.

"Father, I need to go check on your dinner. It's in the oven. You don't want it to burn, do you?" Elisabeth asked, hoping that he would let her go.

"Bitch, when I want you to go, I will let you go. Fine. If you're so worried about my meal, let's just go see how it's doing," he pulled Elisabeth along and shoved her face into the oven door. "Well? Is it done enough? Not burnt, is it? Huh?" He shoved her face into the oven door even more and wouldn't let up for minutes.

The pain was excruciating. Elisabeth felt like her face was on fire, which it kinda was. She couldn't help the screams of agony that tore from her throat as her father refused to let up on the pressure. Elisabeth was sure something was going to break before he let her up.

It was then that Elisabeth decided to stop talking. He wouldn't get any more pleasure out of her screams.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Elisabeth rose with the sun, hoping to stave off disaster by having breakfast ready before her father woke up. Usually he didn't wake up until noon or later, courtesy of the previous night's drinking, but every once in a while, he would wake up early and punish her for not serving him.

Elisabeth washed her face and brushed her teeth before scurrying into the kitchen of their apartment. She quickly gathered all the ingredients she would need in order to make the eggs, bacon, and pancake breakfast that usually put her father in a good mood. He had visited her bed last night, so Elisabeth was doing everything she could to keep her father happy and not be punished.

So far, Elisabeth was doing everything right. She had just set the plate of food down on the table when her father stumbled out of his room, eyes half closed and mumbling under his breath about not drinking so much the next time he went out with his friends. Elisabeth knew that he would never stop drinking so much, but it made her father feel better to be able to tell himself that.

"So, girl, I guess I have taught you something. Well, it was more than your worthless mother ever taught you. Too bad she couldn't have killed you before she died," Elisabeth's blood boiled, but she kept quiet, just like she has for the last three years.

Her father enjoyed trying to get Elisabeth to break her silence, but every time it go too bad, she would just think about her mother and how she needed to be able to get vengeance for her death. With those thoughts in mind, Elisabeth just grit her teeth and stepped away from the table.

"Hey, slut, go get ready for school. Gotta keep up appearances, and all that shit," Elisabeth's father spat. Ah, school. Yet another place she wasn't safe. The bullies seemed to be able to hone in on people who already have enough shit to deal with. Seriously, why can't bullies pick targets who can talk to their parents about what's going on and have people who care about them? Oh, well. She better stop complaining or she really would be late.

Elisabeth hurried out the front door, but not before silently asking her father to drop dead.

*********Matt POV*********

Matt woke up in the morning feeling the lingering pain that years of abuse caused. Every morning, Matt would feel phantom pains shooting through his body, which made it extremely difficult for him to want to get out of bed and go to work. 

Matt loved his job. He got to save people from car crashes, burning buildings, or other weird emergencies. Most people, Matt knew, were scared to run into a burning building, but because he grew up believing that he was worthless and unloved, Matt had no reservations about his own safety. No matter how each call ended, he knew that he made a difference in at least one person's life. That was all Matt wanted to do after his childhood.

_Flashback_

"_Hey, Matty-boy. How's my favorite little whore today?" Matt's father asked him as he slipped into Matt's bed. Matt knew what was coming. His father had been slipping into his bed with him after he finished with his mother for the past three years. He knew what was expected. _

"_Please, don't, Dad. Please. Leave me alone. LEAVE ME ALONE!" Matt knew that his father got off on Matt's pleas, but he couldn't help himself. What seven year old boy could? _

_The pain Matt felt when his father impaled him was nothing compared to the shame and disgust he felt at both himself and his father. Why did he have to be the one who suffered? Why couldn't he just be loved?_

_Ten minutes passed and Matt's father reached his completion. "See, boy, wasn't that fulfilling? Knowing that you made your daddy feel good? Doesn't that make you feel like you finally did something worthwhile? Huh? Does it?" Matt didn't answer, but instead pressed his face into his pillow, tears streaming silently down his face. "Boy, answer me! Now!" Matt still didn't answer, knowing that nothing he said would make a lick of difference._

_The pain that came from his father punching and kicking him was almost a welcome one. A sharp contrast to the burning pain in his butt. _

_End flashback_

Matt shook his head, trying to get rid of the memories that haunted him. He knew that there was no way they'd all go away completely, but there was no point in dwelling over them, either. He just wanted to forget. The abuse would always be a part of him, but that didn't mean he had to relive every detail of what was done to him, did it?

*******Time Skip*******

Matt was laying in the bed in his quarters at the firehouse thinking about his past. He did this every few days, trying to figure out why some people got pleasure out of hurting others. Slowly, Matt started nodding off, only to be jerked awake by the ringing sound of the alarm that told him that there was another fire or accident that he needed to go to.

Matt pushed himself off his bed and briskly walked towards the truck. He passed Gabby and gave her a nod. They used to be a couple, but it got to be too much for Matt to be able to handle. He always feared that he would end up like the only male influence in his life and start beating the people who he should've loved the most, so he broke it off with Gabby. Thankfully, she understood his reasoning when he explain it to her and tried to help Matt where she could.

Gabby nodded back and they both hurried to their vehicles. When Matt jumped on board, his crew were already all there, so they left. Pulling out of the station, Matt's mind went back to the call. He wondered what the situation was and started going through ways that his team could help.

Truck 81 was a general truck. They put out fires, got people out of cars, and helped the medics on occasion, when it was needed. Some people say that Squad was the hardest job, but Matt disagreed. Squad knew that every time they got called that they would need to do some sort of rescue. Truck 81 had no such insurance. They were an all-purpose team that went where they were needed.

When they arrived at the site, it turned out to be a burning apartment building. Matt sighed and groaned at the same time along with every other responder there. Apartment fires, along with hospitals, had to be the worst ones. There were just so many more people that had to be accounted for and helped. Not that he minded doing it, but it got overwhelming sometimes and as Lieutenant, Matt couldn't afford to get overwhelmed and potentially make a decision that could get one of his people hurt.

Matt took a deep breath to calm himself before getting out of the truck and putting up his "I-am-so-confident-nothing-can-shake-me" facade. He couldn't allow any firefighters or rescued people to see him shaken and anything less than fully confident.

He strode up to one of the police officers who had been the first one on the scene. "How many people are in the building?" The officer just looked over at Matt with a haunted look in his eyes. It must've been his first fire.

"Um, there are about forty to fifty people in the building today?"

"Which is it? Forty or fifty? I don't want to leave anyone inside because I didn't know they were in there," Matt knew he was being hard on the green officer, but he wanted to press the point home that they needed accurate numbers in order to operate at their best.

The officer walked away, presumably to find out how many people were in the building. Matt glanced over to his right and saw a man who looked to be the building's security guard heading towards him. Matt went to meet him halfway and asked the man, "Do you happen to know how many people are in the building right now that didn't make it out?"

The guard just looked scared and said, "Only one person I can think of. A girl. She's about nine, I think. And watch out for her, man. Something doesn't sit right about her with me. I think there's something going on in that apartment, so just, watch out,"

"Thanks, man. Is she the only one left?" Matt was already dreading what he would find in that apartment. His mind was filling in the details of what wasn't "right" about her, and he hoped to God that he was wrong.

"Yeah. I got a head count. Every one but her is out. She's floor six, room 607. Her dad is right over there if you, ya know, need to ask him something. It's a sick man who would leave his daughter in a burning building to run to safety himself. I hope nothing happens to that little girl. She seems so small," That last part was said so softly that Matt wasn't sure if it was meant for him to know, or if the guard was just saying it. Either way, Matt wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

Taking a deep breath, Matt turned away from the guard and told his team what he knew, "We got one girl. Age nine. Floor 6, room 607. And guys? Be careful. She may not be the most . . . trusting child," Matt knew his team knew what he meant. There was a possible case of abuse.

Otis, called that because he worked the ladder, like the elevator company, hesitantly started to say, "Um, Lieutenant? Maybe you should, you know?"

"No, Otis. I don't know. Please enlighten me," Matt couldn't help but retort back. Everyone in Firehouse 51 knew of his reluctance to speak about his childhood. And the reasons why.

"Maybe you should take point on this one. You seem to do well with children who come from questionable backgrounds. Maybe you could get this girl to trust you better than one of us could," Otis bravely continued his train of thought.

"Maybe you have a point, Otis. Okay guys, change of plans. I go in, with two of you as back up. You stay ten, fifteen feet behind me at all times. I get the girl, and you follow us out. No touching, and only speak when necessary. We don't know what she's been through. At this point, anything can trigger a flashback, and trust me. We don't want to deal with that while trying to get her out," Matt quickly took control and revamped the plans that they usually followed for situations like this. "Let's do this,"

********Elisabeth's POV********

When Elisabeth got home from school, her father was waiting for her by the door.

"Girl, when I say get home from school immediately, I mean immediately. I don't like this lolly-gagging you do when I'm not around to keep you in check. Maybe I should keep you home from school from now on. Home school you, ya know? Keep an eye on what you're learning. You can never be sure what a public education is going to give you, after all," Her father swayed, obviously drunk, and Elisabeth was surprised her father's speech wasn't slurred.

_I did come straight home, bastard. It's not my fault that you enrolled me in a school all the way on the other side of the city. And then refuse to drive me, _Elisabeth thought. She hadn't spoken in three years, and her father knew that. However, he delighted in asking her an open ended question and punishing her when she didn't answer. There was nothing Elisabeth could do about it, so she just tried to make herself as small as possible when this happened. There was the first shock of pain that always accompanied the beginning of a beating, but then Elisabeth went to her "happy place". Elisabeth created a place where she was happy and spoke. Her mother was alive and her father either dead or in jail, but not in her life. She could wear shorts and a tank top and laugh and be free.

When her father finished beating her, he sent Elisabeth to start on his dinner. Elisabeth was used to orders like this, the ones where she would cook but was not allowed to eat what she cooked. However, her father had gotten a little slap happy and the food was barely on the stove when she passed out from her injuries. What no one realized was that there was a towel on the stove top, right near the burner that was being used.

The next thing Elisabeth knew was that she was staring into the caring blue eyes of a stranger. She almost screamed, only her intense self discipline kept her from making a sound. The man took his mask off and put it over her face. Elisabeth started to fight the man. Who knew what he was going to do to her?

"It's okay. My name is Matt. I'm with the CFD. The fire department. Your apartment caught fire. Is it okay if I pick you up?" Elisabeth's eyes widened. Someone was asking her for permission. She shakily nodded her head. She wasn't stupid and could see the flames behind Matt. "Okay, ready? Here we go," and Matt picked her up. Elisabeth passed out again, and knew no more.

**A/N: I am so sorry about the wait. It's been crazy. I found out that my uncle has lung cancer, I have the ACT in a couple days and I've been studying like crazy, and my computer died. The battery was so drained that it literally couldn't pass a current through it. That means that even if it was plugged in, my computer couldn't charge. I promise, it will never take me that long to post an update again. Everything is going a little smoother now, and I will try to get another update done by Memorial Day. Thanks for sticking with me. **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Matt lifted the girl into his arms and let out a sigh of relief mingled with concern. On one hand, she wasn't feeling the pain that she had to be in, but on the other hand, who knew what happened. Passing out could cause her to fall into a coma and with how light she was, and how scared, it probably could lead to a coma she wouldn't wake up from.

Matt shook his head. He had to focus and get the girl, and himself, to safety. Cradling the girl to his chest, Matt started back towards the front door. He was almost at the door when a part of the ceiling fell down right in front of him and would've crushed him, if not for his foot getting stuck on something he couldn't make out.

Knowing he was getting short on time, Matt looked around, hoping to find an alternative exit that was safer. He spotted a window not too far from where he was.

_*KSHH* This is Matt. I need the ladder on the Northwest side of the building, sixth floor. I have an unconscious girl with unknown injuries. Over. *KSHH* _Matt radioed in to let Otis know that his expertise was needed with the ladder.

Matt saw the ladder making its way over to the window he said, and was about to start heading over to it when the floor broke under Matt's right foot.

"Fucking A. Of course. Take a deep breath. Calm down. You are in control," Matt was muttering to himself, trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation and keep the girl safe. The only thing Matt could think to do was to put the girl down and lift himself out of the hole, but that introduced some new problems. What if the floor broke when he was pressing down on it with his hands? What if he put the girl down and couldn't get her up again? What if he died and caused the little girl to die with him?

No. He could handle this. He was Matt Casey and he was doing what he did the best. With those thoughts in his head, Matt set the girl down and went about trying to get himself up with the least amount of pain possible. Matt tested the wood around him for stability and found a couple spots that seemed to be strong enough to support his weight while he heaved himself up.

Levering himself out of the hole was the first task. While he was figuring out what to do, some more beams had fallen between him and the window. Matt could see Otis looking around for him and could tell the exact moment that he was spotted. Otis turned around and called immediately for help.

********Otis POV********

Looking inside, Otis could see the apartment literally falling down. One thing that bothered Otis, though, was that Matt wasn't by the window. Otis started to search for his missing Lieutenant and spotted him with his foot and half his leg stuck in the floor. Otis spun around and called down the the men, "Hey, guys. Casey's stuck in the floor and he has a girl with him. Unconscious, unknown injuries. I need you guys to get him out of there. The building is falling down around them as we speak."

These words caused a flurry of activity on the ground since no one wanted to lose one of their own or a child. Steadily Otis led the ladder to the open window and controlled it to gently place the edge of the ladder just inside of the window, so that Matt could get on it and walk across to the truck with the girl. But it also served to help the others get to the window so they could help Matt out with the girl.

********Matt POV********

Matt watched as he saw some of his men climb through the window with the seriousness and a surprising gentleness. He knew that he was going to have to explain why they couldn't carry the girl, but first, he needed to get out of this infernal hole he was stuck in. Making a plan of action, Matt lowered his arms so that the girl was still in them and pushed himself up using his forearms.

Climbing to his feet, some of the men tried to get Matt to hand the girl over, but he refused. He wouldn't allow this scared and very hurt girl to go with people she didn't know. She would only be more scared when she woke up than she would be if he stayed with her. He shook his head, signaling that he was to be the one to stay with the girl.

Matt carried her over to the window and slowly climbed out on to the ladder, making sure to keep hold with one hand.

Once on the ground again, Matt carried the girl over to Gabby to look over. When she laid eyes on his precious passenger, she immediately snapped into professional mode and started to instruct everyone who could help on what to do.

********Gabby POV********

Gabby couldn't believe what she was seeing. Yes, she had seen Matt with kids before, but never had he ever had such a look on his face as with this girl. She knew immediately that this girl would become a fixture in Matt's life, and oddly enough, she was okay with it. She wasn't jealous, but concerned for the girl.

"Okay, Matt. I know you want to stay with her, so what I want you to do is sit down on the gurney and lay the girl on top of your chest. Shay, I want you to get the hospital on the line and let them know that we're coming. I have a feeling that what they find when they clean her up is not going to be pretty. Matt, anything to add?"

"Call Social Services. I have a . . . feeling that they will be needed. Chief, will you let me go with Dawson and Shay?" Matt couldn't, Gabby noticed, keep the fear, concern, and compassion from his voice, and was pretty sure that Chief Boden could hear it too.

"That's fine. Stay with her. She may know what started the fire. And Matt? I'm proud of you," Matt's face showed all the shock that he could under all the soot and pain he was in.

"Yes, sir. I will find out everything I can,"

"I have no doubt of it, Lieutenant. Stay in touch. We'll be there as soon as we can,"

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY DAUGHTER? I DIDN'T SAY YOU CAN TAKE HER TO THE HOSPITAL. NOT ALL OF US COMMON FOLK CAN AFFORD IT, YA KNOW?!" The belligerent man came up to Boden and tried to get in his face.

"Sir, your daughter needs medical help. I'm sure there is a way to get the money situation under control if it's needed. Now please step back. We have reason to believe you shouldn't be near here," Boden was trying to be nice. Anyone with eyes could see that he clearly wanted the drunk man away from him and was trying his hardest to not get violent. However, the man didn't seem to have working eyes. He just kept up yelling and got into the Chief's face.

"UNDER CONTROL?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TELLING ME ABOUT MY OWN FINANCIAL SITUATION? YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT ME!" The man just wouldn't stop. It was like he wanted to get put on his ass.

"Okay, Shay. We can't stay here and listen to this. We need to get this girl to a hospital ten minutes ago. Casey! We're moving out. Hold her tight. If I need to give an injection, I don't want her bouncing around, you hear me?" Gabby looked over to Matt. She could see the determination and devotion in his eyes and knew that he wouldn't let anything happen to this girl.

"Yeah, Dawson. Let's roll out," Matt said, and Shay closed the doors and went to the front, got in, turned the sirens on, and sped out as fast as she could to the nearest hospital. A little girl's life was at stake.


End file.
